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US-backed forces battled Islamic State group fighters Saturday as the holdout jihadists clung to the last dregs of their crumbling “caliphate” in eastern Syria. For weeks, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces have been battling to crush IS fighters cornered in a riverside encampment in the village of Baghouz. The makeshift camp of tents and tunnels is all that remains of a once-sprawling “caliphate” declared in 2014 over swathes of Syria and neighbouring Iraq.

Theresa May is still fighting to get her twice-rejected deal through Parliament and has a stark warning for lawmakers: Back the agreement or risk a long delay to Brexit. Key Developments:Parliament to debate delaying Brexit. Votes expected after 5 p.m.Speaker John Bercow chose four amendments.

DEIR AL-ZOR PROVINCE, Syria (Reuters) – U.S-backed fighters will resume their assault on Islamic State’s last, small patch of ground in eastern Syria if no more civilians come out by Saturday afternoon, one of their spokesmen said on Friday. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have slowed their offensive on the jihadist enclave at Baghouz near the Iraqi border to allow many thousands of people to pour out in an exodus that has lasted weeks. A month ago the SDF launched what it called a “final battle” to take the cluster of houses and farmland, and people leaving the enclave have described harrowing conditions of peril and hardship.

Trump’s dire warnings that the U.S. risks sinking into the chaos that’s engulfed Venezuela if Democrats have their way has been amplified by Republicans in Congress and their allies, as the GOP attempts to reverse its losses in the House and hold the Senate and White House in 2020. The Republicans have ready foils in Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, two stars on the left who have described themselves as democratic socialists in the mold of Scandinavia.

Speaking to the Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland, Trump told supporters that Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation was “bullsh–,” suggested that immigrant members of Congress “hate our country,” took a shot at the Federal Reserve for raising interest rates, and pledged to withhold federal research money from universities that don’t protect conservative speech. As he took the stage, Trump literally hugged an American flag. “You know, I’m totally off script right now,” Trump, just warming up, said toward the beginning of his appearance.

Western-backed forces say they plan to crush the Islamic State terror group within two days after launching an operation to clear out the group's final stronghold. The Syrian Democratic Forces, the Kurdish-led group that has been the US-led coalition’s main ally against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) in Syria, commenced their final assault on the village of Baghuz just after sunset on Friday night. “After evacuation of thousands of civilians and our comrades who were held hostage in Baghouz, the operation to clear the last remaining pocket of Isil started at 18:00 this evening,” Mustafa Bali, a spokesman for the SDF said. Mr Bali told The Daily Telegraph that said the operation is expected to last two days, but may take a week to complete as hardened jihadists fight back with heavy weapons and suicide car bombs. Isil, which once ruled over eight million people in a proto-state covering large swathes of Syria and Iraq, now controls a patch of land about 700 metres across on the banks of the Euphrates river. The demise of ISIL in Syria and Iraq The operation follows three weeks of evacuations of civilians from the tiny pocket. About 17,000 people, mostly women and children, have left in the past 16 days. SDF commanders estimate there are around 1,000 Isil fighters remaining in the pocket, along with an unknown number of non-combatants. They may include John Cantlie, a British journalist who was kidnapped in 2012. Ben Wallace, the UK Security Minister, said last month that there was reason to believe Mr Cantlie is still alive. Photo Dispatch: Syria's fight against ISIL Although the fall of Baghuz would mark the end of the group’s pretensions to a caliphate, SDF officials have warned it will continue to present a security threat. Sleeper cells using guerrilla tactics continue to carry out drive-by shootings and suicide bombings in liberated areas. Some fighters still hold some desolate territory in a remote area west of the Euphrates River. “All the remaining fighters are experienced and professional. They the true radicals and jihadist fighters. Therefore they will fight to the end,” Mr Bali said. “We do not expect any to surrender.”

Since February 9 the Arab-Kurdish alliance of the Syrian Democratic Forces backed by the US have been on an offensive against the last dregs of the Islamic State group in Syria. – February 9: The SDF announces it has begun the “decisive battle” to take the last scrap of territory from the Islamic State group — a tiny patch of four-square-kilometres (one-square-mile) in eastern Syria. Up to 600 jihadists are believed to remain inside, according to the alliance, along with several hundreds of civilians.

Syrian fighters backed by artillery fire from a US-led coalition battled a fierce jihadist counteroffensive as they pushed to retake a last morsel of territory from the Islamic State group in an assault lasting days. More than four years after the extremists declared a “caliphate” across large parts of Syria and neighbouring Iraq, several offensives have whittled that down to a tiny scrap of land in eastern Syria. The final push to expel hundreds of diehard jihadists from that patch on the Iraq border was announced Saturday by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

The battle to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court should have taught Republicans that any lingering illusions about civility or fair play go out the window when it comes to the efforts of Democrats to derail conservative nominees. President Trump’s nominee, Neomi Rao, may have a sterling reputation as a legal scholar, but attacks on her past show just how far and how low liberals will go to take down a potential future Supreme Court nominee. Leaving aside personal attacks and attempts to mischaracterize her views, liberals have good reasons to fear Rao.

House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters: “There’s not going to be any wall money in the legislation” to fund border security for the rest of this year. Instead, Pelosi said funding for more ports of entry or additional border security technology was open for negotiation. Previously, Democrats have supported $ 1.3 billion for new border fencing this year or improvements to existing fencing.